Pietersen rips through sorry Danes

Denmark's pre-match reservations about their C&G Trophy match against Northamptonshire proved founded as they were bowled out for 56, slumping to an eight-wicket defeat before the afternoon had really started.

The hero of the day for Northamptonshire was Charl Pietersen, a 22-year-old South African who last season was playing league cricket in Loughborough but this year is on the county circuit as a Kolpak player. In eight overs of probing left-arm swing bowling he took 7 for 10, including five wickets in 12 balls. His figures would have been more remarkable had he not conceded six wides. Not one Danish batsman made double figures, with extras (24) easily the top scorer.
The pitch was ideal for Pietersen. Rain had seeped under the flimsy covers overnight leaving the pitch with damp patches, and a strong cross breeze further aided the bowlers.

Demark had expressed concerns at being asked to play on a turf wicket so early in their season - "It's only a few weeks since the polar bears were walking in the Copenhagen streets," argued Soren Nissen, chairman of the Svenholm club - while Claus Hansen, the Danish Cricket Federation chairman, took some solace in the surname of their tormentor when he quipped: "At least we were bowled out by someone with a Danish name."

About 30 Northamptonshire supporters travelled over for the match - making up almost half the crowd - but Kepler Wessels, the county's South African coach, was not among them as he was not aware that he needed a visa to make the trip until it was too late and had to remain at home.

It was a bad end to a wretched couple of days for Nissen. On Monday, he cut his hand while repairing a sightscreen at the ground and had to have six stitches. He told The Guardian that the doctor was "a military man who assured me that he had done stitches before ... when he was finished, he admitted that he had, but only on dead pigs".